Continuous Monitoring & Evidence Fabric — Project Charter

1. Purpose

Turn continuous monitoring from a periodic reporting exercise into an operational fabric that aggregates evidence from multiple sources, detects drift, and assembles an authorization package from the closure stream rather than from after-the-fact assertions.

2. Problem Statement

Evidence is still assembled for assessments. Multiple management stacks produce multiple inventories that cannot be reconciled. Drift is discovered during audits rather than continuously. The result is:

  • The same findings recur every assessment cycle.
  • No single compliance picture across identity, endpoint, network, and data platforms.
  • Authorization packages that describe controls an assessor cannot exercise.
  • Continuous-monitoring obligations that are met by dashboards rather than by machine-readable evidence.

3. Objectives

  1. Designate the evidence contract: every deployed mechanism emits a normalized record that can be bound to a control.
  2. Aggregate evidence from identity, endpoint, network, and data-platform sources into one picture, reconciled to the naming-plane join key.
  3. Operationalize drift detection (snapshot, compare, classify, alert, remediate, verify).
  4. Assemble authorization-package artifacts from the evidence stream rather than from manual compilation.
  5. Distinguish proven claims from asserted claims; label coverage honestly.

4. Scope

In Scope

  • Evidence contract and normalized record shape.
  • Aggregation of identity, endpoint, network, and data-platform evidence.
  • Reconciliation to the authoritative naming and addressing plane.
  • Drift detection operations (schedule, classification, remediation routing, verification).
  • Authorization-package assembly from the evidence stream.
  • Honest coverage reporting (proven vs. asserted).

Out of Scope (Initial Phase)

  • Replacement of the existing continuous-monitoring toolset (the project defines the contract; tools are realizations).
  • Full FedRAMP 20x Key Security Indicator implementation for every control.
  • Real-time inline enforcement.

5. Guiding Principles

  • Evidence is a byproduct of the change path. It is not assembled later.
  • One picture, many sources. Actuation stays platform-native; evidence is unified.
  • Reconcile to the naming plane. Multiple inventories join on the authoritative asset identity.
  • Drift is classified. Findings are schema, semantic, provenance, authorization, identity, or contention.
  • Honesty is a first-class output. Coverage that is not proven is labeled as such.

6. Success Criteria

  • Evidence contract documented and at least two sources emitting normalized records.
  • Pilot aggregation produces one picture for a limited scope, reconciled to the naming plane.
  • Drift detection operational for at least one object class (identity attributes or device posture).
  • Authorization-package artifacts can be generated from the evidence stream for the pilot scope.
  • Coverage report distinguishes proven from asserted claims.

7. High-Level Approach

  1. Contract — Define the normalized evidence record and the binding to controls.
  2. Emit — Ensure at least two sources emit records.
  3. Aggregate — Join records on the naming-plane identity into one picture.
  4. Detect — Operationalize drift detection for one object class.
  5. Assemble — Generate authorization-package artifacts from the stream for the pilot.

8. Risks and Assumptions

Key Risks

  • Sources emit proprietary telemetry that cannot be normalized without synthesis.
  • Naming-plane join key is incomplete, preventing reconciliation.
  • Drift detection produces more findings than the organization can remediate.
  • Authorization-package format requirements change.

Assumptions

  • At least two sources can emit or be adapted to emit normalized records.
  • An authoritative naming and addressing plane exists or will exist.
  • Stakeholders accept honest coverage reporting.

9. Governance and Ownership

  • Project sponsor: (to be named)
  • Project lead: (to be named)
  • Domain leads: Evidence Contract, Aggregation, Drift Detection, Authorization Package

10. Next Steps

  • Document the evidence record shape and control binding.
  • Identify the first two sources that can emit.
  • Confirm the naming-plane join key.
  • Define the pilot scope and drift object class.
  • Establish the coverage-reporting format.

This charter describes a continuous monitoring and evidence fabric project. It deliberately omits internal architectural decision records and document identifiers.

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